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Tech News
Tech News (formerly The Towers and Newspeak) is WPI's student newspaper, established in 1909. Anyone who tells you running a newspaper isn't a full-time job isn't telling the truth. Typically understaffed, Tech News perseveres in an attempt to provide students with news and interesting features. The newspaper began as Tech News in 1909. In the 1970's, the name Tech News was changed to Newspeak to better reflect the paper's anti-authoritarian tone. It was changed back to Tech News in 2000 by then Editor-in-Chief Justin Greenough after a long debate where it was felt the paper was no longer as rebellious as it had been in the 70's and 80's. As the university continued to expand its horizons beyond the strictly technical realm, the paper developed a new name that strongly represents the pillars of the WPI education and community. In the Fall of 2007, the name of the paper officially changed and is now known as The Towers. ''Finally, in the spring of 2018, the decision was made to change the paper's name back to ''Tech News since ''The Towers ''was deemed to be too confusing a title, hopefully bringing an end to the renaming drama once and for all. (We'll see how long that lasts.) It has a long history, and the archives can be found in the library or online (from 1994, with some gaps) at their Web site . *Co Editor-in-Chief: Tess Sandbrook *Co Editor-in-Cheif: Emily Flavin *Layout Editor: Andy Li *Copy Editor: Maggie Gaffney *News Editor: Leslieann Gomez *Features Editor: Calvin Thomas *Opinion & Editorial Editor: Leslieann Gomez *Entertainment Editor: Calvin Thomas *Sports Editor: Andy Li *Photo Editor: Nicole Shedd *Business & Ads Manager: Josh Usiskin (interim) *Webmaster: Dan Enriquez *PR Manager: Hope Clairmont Notable Articles (External links to actual articles will be provided after The Towers website maintenance is complete.) *Campus Center Issue - EIC Justin Greenough worked with the administration to attempt to enocurage positive reactions to the nearly completed Campus Center in Fall '00. The overall impact of the issue was questionable. *Governor's Debate - The second Massachusetts Governor's Debate in 2002 was held at WPI. Exclusive pictures of the event taken by a student would later be printed in the Peddler. *Newspeak to Tech News - The newspaper changes its name. Again. *Tech News to The Towers - The newspaper changes its name. Yet again. *The Towers to Tech News - The newspaper changes its name. And yet once more. Controversies Tech News has had its share of controversies over the years, some more serious than others. Holocaust Ad In Fall '00, Tech News printed a pair of small text-only ads from a group claiming to support "free debate" on the matter of the Holocaust. In fact, the group were Neo-Nazis who espoused the view that the Holocaust never happened. After the nature of the organization was discovered by students, many students and faculty expressed concern and dismay over the ads being published. The end result was the resignation of the current EIC as well as the permanent elimination of the EIC Emeritus position. A substantive ad policy was not made until several years after the incident, however. Fake Misquotes Twice, once in Spring '01 and again in Fall '02, a single student was responsible for playing pranks on Tech News staff concerning fake reports of misquotations. The first incident occurred after the student appeared in a "Person on the Street." He then complained to the Features Editor that he had been misquoted, causing some concern among Tech News editors. However, the report was falacious and an attempt to deliberately send editors into a tizzy. As a result, the student was barred from appearing in "Person on the Street" ever again. The same student repeated it after the publication of an article on a debate of whether laptops should be required. He claimed that people had been misquoted and that the writer should be banned from Tech News. However, the editorial board quickly determined the claim was again false and the student was publicly rebutted with a dismissive editorial. The writer of the laptop article later went on to become a Features Editor for the paper. "Tech News made me bulemic" In academic year '03-'04, flyers appeared on campus with the words "Tech News made me bulemic" printed on them, accompanied by a picture of a woman in a bath. No official response was made to the postings. Administrators were concerned that Tech News itself may have made the flyers, though this was not true. To date, no one knows the party responsible for the flyers or the meaning behind them. Columns and Regular Features Current features *He Said/She Said - A bicameral advice column written by two pseudonymed staff writers. The female portion of the advice is intended to be useful and relevant, while the male section is purely for entertainment purposes. *Horoscopes - Humorous fortunes and prophesies with a eye towards current events, pop culture, and WPI happenings. Formerly known as General Tsao's Horoscopes. *Events Calendar - A collected schedule of the upcoming week's events. *CDC Column -- WPI's Career Development Center helps undergrads not suck at their job searches. Past features *Gamebits - Written by Ken Gagne. *Intellectric - Written by Marc Sawaya and Oleg Rekutin. *Odin's Eye *Philler - A random humour column written by "Laurel and Guinevere" from 1993 through 2001. *Police Log - Formerly one of the most popular columns, in which the Campus Police dispatcher's logs are sent to Tech News and printed. This is popular because it showcases the stupid things that happen on campus - and brings amusement to some. *Reader's Poll - At the end of every year, Tech News has a poll concerning favorite articles, favorite eating places, what they want to see more of, etc. *Ruminations - A collection of quotes from readers and staff. *Rummaging in the CD Bin - Written by John Baird, '04. It ran from Spring '02 to Fall '03. First published: Jan. 15, 2002 *Spot the Error - Started in Fall '03. *Time Machine - Compiled by Lee Caron. *Two Sides to a Coin - By Rocky Lore, '06, and Jamo Hanlan. *Valentine's Day Issue - Tech News publishes special valentines around every Feb. 14. *Year in Review - Traditionally done by the Features Editor at the end of each year, it contains excerpts from the most notable articles of the year. *Man/Person on the Street - Usually done by two staffers, it asks multiple people a question and takes their picture. Nicknamed "Person in the Wedge" and "Person in the Campus Center" for times during the cold winter when those doing it didn't feel like venturing outside. Comics Tech News has published several student made comics over the years. *F--ckin Elves! - By Jon Moffat. *Jack Dogg - By "Xavier Rhodes," a pen name. *Polaris - Ran during the 1980's. *UPI - By "Alex Thomas," a pen name. *Bubblegum Heroes - By Greg Roberts and EJ Massa It has also published a number of syndicated and independent comics, including: *Dilbert *Krakow *Piled Higher and Deeper *Super Banana *Tom the Dancing Bug Notable editors and staff This is an alphabetical list of notable editors and staff that have worked on The Towers/Tech News/Newspeak over the decades. *John Baird *Ken Gagne *Darius Kazemi *Darren Torpey *Conor Walsh Trivia *Record holders for Newspeak/Tech News/Towers: ::Most items published in a single year: Alex Knapp, '01, in 2001 ::Most items published in a four year period: John Baird, '04, from 2000-2004 ::Most opinion articles published in a four year period: Rocky Lorre, '06, from 2002-2006 ::Most sports articles published in a year: The 2002 Sports Editor, in 2002 ::Most consecutive 2-page spreads (articles with >2000 words): John Baird, in Spring 2004 *When re-applying for recognition from student government, the Editor in Chief is listed as President, News Editor as Vice-President, Business Manager as Treasurer, and Features Editor as Secretary. Thus, EIC, News, and Features are considered the "top three" editorial positions. With few exceptions, EIC's typically have served as either News or Features Editor the year prior. *Its first webmaster was Troy B. Thompson '95. The first webmaster with editorial powers was Chun-Shek Chan, '04. *Tech News and APO once hosted a mechanical bull for Holiday Extravaganza in Fall '01. The idea came from then-staffer John Baird (who originally pitched it to the advisor of SocComm) and the suggestion traveled around campus. Other groups who had considered sponsoring it included BiLaGa, SocComm, and student government. With the support of the EIC of Tech News and the President of APO, the bull was finally brought to campus. *A number of "Editor Tips" have been posted on the Tech News front door over the years. They include: "3 hours of sleep and you're good to go," "2 pounds of coffee/crack and you're good to go," and "Readers are important to the paper - remember that when the urge to strangle them rises." *Laurel and Guinevere were psuedonyms for Troy B. Thompson '95 and Nick Conti '95. They also hosted a radio program on WPIR called "Philler Phridays". *A Tech News staffer to have an article published in the mainstream press was Rachel Copeland, '03, whose article on applying to graduate school was reprinted in the Boston Globe. *The Editor-in-Chief (and other former editors) always gets a free subscription to Newspeak/The Towers/Tech News for life. External Links *Tech News *Gamebits Category:Media Clubs